A pale jade statuette of a standing female figure with a small body and a large head. The space in between the legs is cut out. There are engraved lines throughout the piece that show details in the fingers, body, and face. The face has a large mouth, rou
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The jade statuette is of a standing female figure with a small body and a large head. The piece is pale off-white in color and shown vertically on a dark grey background. The space in between the legs is cut out. There are engraved lines throughout the piece that show details in the fingers, body, and face. The face has a large mouth, round nose, and angled, detailed eyes. Two points are on top of the head and point outward on each side.

Gallery Text

The Shang refined Neolithic jade-making practices, fashioning ritual blades and implements of even greater sophistication than those of their predecessors, incorporating jade blades into turquoise-inlaid bronze hafts, and expanding their jade repertoire into representational shapes of humans and animals.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.50.330
Title
Two-Sided Jade Statuette of a Woman
Classification
Ritual Implements
Work Type
figurine
Date
12th-11th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Shang dynasty, c. 1600-c. 1050 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/204796

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1740, Early Chinese Art, Arts of Ancient China from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Whitish nephrite
Dimensions
H. 6 x W. 2 x D. 1.5 cm (2 3/8 x 13/16 x 9/16 in.)
Weight 19 g

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Grenville L. Winthrop, New York (by 1943), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Published Text

Catalogue
Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University
Authors
Max Loehr and Louisa G. Fitzgerald Huber
Publisher
Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1975)

Catalogue entry no. 119 by Max Loehr:

119 Two-sided Statuette of a Woman
Whitish nephrite carving of a standing nude whose small breasts, indicated by engraved circles, suggest a female. Her head, about one third of the height of the entire figure, is large, but shows finely rendered features in raised outlines and a headdress of two horn- or wing-like projections with a groove in the middle. Her arms are in the same position as in the preceding figure, No. 118, with the hands meeting at the abdomen. Her legs are separated by a triangular perforation, and her feet are turned inward, joining at the toes. The legs are marked with a slender triangle ending in a volute. The two sides of the statuette are carved identically. A perforation passes through the figure and the short, recessed extension below its feet. Late Shang.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.50.330
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Max Loehr and Louisa G. Fitzgerald Huber, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, Fogg Art Museum, 1975)., cat. no. 119, p. 110
  • Meryl Faith Cohen, "Ancient Chinese Jade Figures in the Winthrop Collection: An Anthropological Inquiry" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, March 1990), Unpublished, pp. 1-110 passim
  • Jenny So, Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2019), pp. 162-64, cat. 19B

Exhibition History

  • S427: Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Jades, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/20/1985 - 04/30/2008
  • Re-View: S228-230 Arts of Asia, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/31/2008 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 1740 Early China I, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu